This guest post was submitted by state Senator Jessica Unruh of District 33. She is chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and interim Taxation Committee. She is also an Environmental Manager with North American Coal Corporation at one of their Beulah, ND coal mine locations. Almost without notice, an important anniversary came and…

President Donald Trump is on the verge of wrapping up his campaign to cut taxes. Here in North Dakota, we need all the tax relief we can get. That’s why the president chose our state to help kick off his plan. Pledging “the greatest tax reduction in the history of our country, greater than ever before,”…

The name-calling, angry, “retired” attack dog of the left Jack Zaleski has been at it again. Readers have to wonder why The Forum still gives him a platform to spew his dishonest venom. The poor excuse of a column he wrote on April 16, 2017, “‘Quality’ in eyes of beholder,” is the epitome of poor…

This session, the state of North Dakota continued in its efforts to keep property taxes and basic services local while providing substantial permanent relief to taxpayers and reform to the system. In recent years, state programs like the 12% property tax buy-down have been highly publicized, but only provided short-term relief to property taxpayers in…

This guest post was submitted by Senator Jessica Unruh (R-Beulah) and Rep. Todd Porter (R-Mandan) With the passage of SB 2327 and the creation of the ND Department of Environmental Quality, our state is now better equipped than ever before to take control of its own environmental future. This bill will move the environmental health…

“I want to see us support and make coal more competitive,” said House Minority Leader Corey Mock, a Democrat from Grand Forks, said in a committee hearing in Bismarck last week. “But I certainly wouldn’t want to do it at the expense of other energy industries.” That’s an ironic statement given that the topic at…

The joke among lawmakers this legislative session is that the wind energy industry, exercised by legislation aimed at undermining some of advantages they’ve been given in the law, has been stimulating the economy of Bismarck with the number of lobbyists they’ve parachuted in to work at the session. And the fight isn’t over yet. It’s…

There is no question that Governor Doug Burgum is a bit of a booster when it comes to developing downtown spaces in North Dakota communities. That was his passion before he ran for office when he was an evangelist for, and major investor in, downtown Fargo. Now that he’s in office it should surprise nobody…

“Senate Bill 2327 would transfer the powers of the Environmental Health Section in the North Dakota Department of Health to a new Department of Environmental Quality, its leader being a member of the governor’s Cabinet,” my colleague John Hageman reports. The idea behind the bill, introduced by coal country Senator Jessica Unruh (R-Beulah), is to…

In its original form SB2314, introduced by Republican Senator Jessica Unruh of Beulah, would have addressed power companies seeking rate hikes here in North Dakota to pay for compliance with green power mandates in other states. It also would have moved North Dakota’s renewable energy mandate (which has long since been satisfied) from the law and…